Daniel Astor and the Grand Wizard Duel
by LimeisGreen
Summary: Daniel and Abigail Astor had been homeschooled since birth, but something changed and they suddenly found themselves attending the prestigious Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Will they be able to unravel the sinister plot stirring beneath the surface before it is too late? Join the Astors as they uncover the secrets of Ilvermorny and the great prophecy within.
1. Chapter 1: The House of Dragons

**Chapter One: The House of Dragons**

Mrs. Astor was a bright middle-aged woman who knew everything about sculpting and nothing about running a business.

She also loved dragons. In fact, she spent so much time making sculptures of them that they overpopulated her two-stories pottery shop in New York City. Every morning, she would wake up, tie her glowing red hair into her "working braids", and spend the rest of the day working on a new sculpture. Occasionally, a customer would come by looking to purchase some of her works, but Mrs. Astor was awfully picky about what she wanted to put on sale. To her, each dragon she created carried a part of her soul.

Nevertheless, it wasn't like people flocked to her store left and right. If she was lucky a transaction would be made once every few weeks. After all, who would really need a clay dragon sculpture for their New York apartment building anyways?

Despite the lack of customers, Mrs. Astor never felt lonely in the drafty, old building. Her son was always there to keep her company in the summer, and her daughter visited around the holidays as well. When they were not there, she had her prize-winning masterpiece, Gideon, by her side. Gideon was a six-foot-tall majesty with armor-like scales and a golden coating encased around its body. He stood by the entrance and echoed a tenor growl when the door opened.

One lazy August morning, Mrs. Astor heard the familiar yet unusual growl from downstairs while she was having breakfast with her son. It was so tremendous that it rattled the entire room, knocking over the syrup bottle and spilling her glass of coffee all over the table.

"Oh dear," the sculptor murmured, surveying the mess on the table. "Daniel, would you mind cleaning this up while I run downstairs for a minute?"

Daniel Astor glanced up from his copy of _Wizdom,_ the standard wizard newspaper in the States. He was sixteen years old with slightly above-average height and dark brown hair that he had learned to cut himself since the age of five. At first glance, one would not have assumed that Daniel was in any ways related to Mrs. Astor, but they shared the same soft, green eyes that ran uniquely from her side of the family.

"Yeah sure," the boy nodded, returning to the paper. "Can I take Abe out for a walk later?"

"As long as you don't make him chase the pigeons again."

Mrs. Astor got up from her chair, careful to avoid the spilled liquid. Her white dress was the last thing she wanted to get stained, even for a second. After she was safely out of the danger zone, she returned to her elegant glide across the room and down the old, creaky stairs.

When she reached the base of the stairs, Mrs. Astor was surprised to find that her so-called "customer" wasn't exactly an everyday New Yorker.

He was a man in his mid-twenties with dark hair and a five o' clock shadow on his extremely handsome face. He was well built, with a loose button up shirt like he had just walked out of a fashion magazine. However, there was something odd about the atmosphere around him. One would almost describe it as...icy.

"Good morning, sir," Mrs. Astor greeted the man with a smile. She went up and shook his hand. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize how cold it is in here. Your hands are freezing. Would you like to have some hot coffee?"

"No, it's fine" the man replied. "It's my own enchantments. I like the cold."

"So you are not a No-Maj?" the owner asked cautiously even though she knew the answer already.

"I'm the Medical Theology teacher from Ilvermorny," the man said matter-of-factly. "My name is Daryn Bennett. I'm here to talk about your children's enrollment in our school."

"Enrollment?" Mrs. Astor exclaimed. She glanced quickly at the stairs and returned with a frown on her freckled face. "Professor Bennett, we had rejected the letter years ago. The school knows that my kids have some special conditions. We have been homeschooling them since birth."

"It's because of these conditions that we wanted to reach out," Professor Bennett pressed on. "The headmistress believe that this is the year they will reach their full potential. They are twins, after all, and Ilvermorny is our best chance of protecting them."

"And do _you_ believe this as well?" Mrs. Astor asked, crossing her arms.

The question caught the man off guard, and he responded with a double take.

"O-of course I do!" he exclaimed. "Why don't you talk this over with your husband and kids. But just between you and me, I would accept this offer."

"Then I see that I have no other options."

"Unfortunately."

Silence fell upon them. The summer air floated above Mrs. Astor's head in a blanket of warmth only to be shot down when it dared to venture into the frozen atmosphere surrounding her guest. In a way, it seemed as if they were looking at each other through a glass boundary that separated two completely different worlds.

For a split second, Professor Bennett's sharp blue eyes darted down at the direction of his right hand where his watch was. The time it told seemed to unsettle him slightly, for he started scratching his head and fidgeting with a button on his shirt.

"I'm so sorry," the man said. "My enchantment is wearing off, and I really can't stand the summer heat. I like this shop you have here. It's kind of aesthetic. Maybe on better terms, I will return to purchase one of your famous dragon sculptures."

With those final words, Professor Bennett rushed out of the shop, leaving no room for goodbyes. From the window, Mrs. Astor barely caught a glimpse of him before he apparated.

"Hey, mom!" Daniel's voice echoed from the top of the staircase. There was a thunderstorm of footsteps pounding on the wooden boards before the boy appeared right next to his mother. "Is the customer gone already?"

Mrs. Astor, still a bit shocked from her previous conversation, turned to look at her son's face with a stunned expression as if he was another stranger. For a moment, her brain seemed to tie a knot around itself.

"Is there something wrong, mother?" the boy asked, cutting up his words into little chunks to elongate the question as if he didn't really want an answer.

"Go do some shopping today. You'll need some new clothes and textbooks."

* * *

Author's Note:

 _Hi! Thanks for reading the first chapter of my Harry Potter fanfiction. It's been a while since I really got into this series. Even though this story is filled with original characters and settings, I try to keep it as close to the lore as possible, but if there are some inconsistencies, I probably goofed on my research. Ilvermorny is a school that hasn't been explored a lot before, so most of the stuff about it I just made up. Everything might be wrong once the new film comes out but...whatever :)_

 _I like to keep each chapter short so I don't get overwhelmed with other work and never update. Please excuse my typos and grammar issues._

 _Thank you and hope you enjoyed the first chapter._


	2. Chapter 2: Door Number Two

**Chapter 2: Door Number Two**

* * *

A dark cloud drifted over the crowded station at the base of Mount Greylock. Boys and girls from ages eleven to seventeen gathered in a single file line that stretched for miles down the path. The younger ones clutched the arms of their parents while older ones gather in groups to socialize. Despite the gloomy weather, the social atmosphere was lively, and everybody seemed to be anticipating something

Somewhere in the front of all the commotion stood Daniel Astor and his sister Abigail. Although they were the same age, she was about half a head shorter than her brother. Her mahogany hair provided the perfect contrast to her pale porcelain skin. People who knew the Astor family well would say that she looked like her mother but had the personality of her father. Ironically, the exact opposite could be said about her brother.

"I can't believe I let you drag me out of bed this early," Abigail Astor grumbled under her breath.

As soon as the clock hand struck six that morning, Daniel had Apparated right in front of the entrance to his father's mansion and dragged her out of bed. Since Abigail preferred to live with their father in California instead of their mother in New York, they mostly relied on the mirror spell to communicate. However, Daniel felt that the morning of September 1st was too important of a day to miss out on just because of an ignored call, so he decided to make sure everything flowed out smoothly in person. His sister, on the other hand, did not quite share his feelings.

The cable car station was a small gas-station-like building with a red striped roof and white-washed walls. The entire cable car system was implemented at the turn of the century to provide an easier and faster trip up the mountain since protection magics prohibited the use of Apparition and Floo Powder. When the twins arrived that morning, there had been fewer than ten people in line, but as the hours ticked by, students flocked in by the hundreds.

"Aren't you glad we are early?" Daniel exclaimed excitedly. "We're going to be one of the first ones on the lifts! I heard the lines can get pretty long."

"It starts at noon and we've been here since eight," Abigail said, rolling her eyes. "Not everybody is as excited about school as you, nerd. Keep in mind that the only reason we're even going is because we wanted to figure all that weird stuff out."

"We'll figure things out while having fun, right?" Daniel said with a smile and a wink.

"Sometimes I wonder how we are even related," his sister scoffed.

At that moment, a loud foghorn blared from the speaker beside the glass entrance, sending a shockwave across the entire sea of bodies. Daniel could hear the screaming and cheering behind him as the glass doors to the station slowly slid open. Two staff members who looked awfully similar to the twins from _Alice in Wonderland_ waddled to each side of the door.

"Let's proceed in an orderly fashion, ladies and gentlemen," the one on the right (the name tag on his shirt labeled him as Ted) shouted. His voice was loud, squeaky, and merciless on the ears.

"We can finish this in an hour, people!" the one on the right (the name tag on his shirt labeled him as Dred) shouted. His voice was low, thunderous, and merciless on the ears.

One by one, the first few people in line went through bag inspections by the two staff members and was permitted to enter the building. When it got to the Astors' turn, Daniel was able to get his bags through safely, but Dred turned Abigail away before she could even hand him her luggage.

"Hey!" Abigail exclaimed, "What's the big deal?"

"No entry beyond this point without the proper dress robe," Ted squeaked. "Did ya not see everybody else?"

He was right. Every single student in line, including Daniel, was wearing their blue Ilvermorny robes. Abigail was the only person in a windbreaker and jeans.

"Yeah, whatever," Abigail said with an exasperated sigh. She dug into her luggage case only to come out empty-handed. "This is just great. Must have left it at home when my brother dragged me out of the house at six in the morning."

"How is it my fault?" Daniel exclaimed.

"Why don't you just go ahead," Abigail said, shooting him a glare. "I'll go figure out a way to get my robe. Just save me a seat or something."

Without really much of a plan in mind, the annoyed Abigail walked off toward the side of the building. Ushered by Dred, Daniel had no choice but to move on in order to keep the line flowing.

The first things that Daniel noticed when he walked in were the doors. Thirteen doors were arranged on the back and the sides of the walls surrounding the room. Each of them was labeled with an increasing number from left to right. It was as if someone had decided to condense the hallways of a hotel into a single room.

There was only one man inside the building, and he looked as ancient as a ruined temple. He sat behind a receptionist's desk which happened to be the only furniture in the room other than the chair he was sitting on. His bow tie was crooked, much like the rest of his body, and when he spoke, his voice was hoarse like he had never drunk a cup of water in his life before.

"I don't recognize you," were the first words he muttered to Daniel.

"I suppose not," Daniel replied. "I just transferred in."

"Yes, yes," the old man nodded. "A lot of new people this year. You are Mr. Astor, am I correct? You can call me Old Bishop. Do you have a reservation?"

"A reservation?"

"My apologies," Old Bishop said. "Usually students reserve entire cars to travel as a group. Since you are new here, I'll just put you in one that an extra space."

"Oh," Daniel murmured. His mind immediately went to Abigail. He had no idea the system worked like that. Chances were that he would be stuck with a group of complete strangers. There was no way he could ask for a car just for the two of them. He was so used to planning things ahead of time that this slight bump served as a huge blow for him.

"Let me see here," the receptionist continued, oblivious to Daniel's dismay. "Go through door number two and you should see a car with one seat left over."

"Thank you," Daniel said with a nod and headed towards the door with the number 2 labeled on it. He was slightly worried, but there wasn't much he could do at the moment.

As his mind began to sway, Daniel caught a hold of himself and pushed everything back down. He knew the reason why he was made to attend the school, but for the first time in his life, he was given a chance to be with other _normal_ people his age. If anything, he should be worrying about passing his classes and making new friends. So, with a deep breath to push down all his nerves, Daniel Astor placed his hand on door number two and pushed it open.


	3. Chapter 3: Abe

**Chapter 3: Abe**

* * *

The moment Daniel opened door number two, he was greeted by a cold rush of air. It sliced at his skin like knives and made his teeth rattle. Looking around, he could see that he was standing in a grassy clearing right under the mountain. Long, black cable lines soar overhead, leading all the way to the cloud-covered peak of the mountain. When he turned around, he found that the door had disappeared. In fact, the entire station was gone. The only other thing he could find in the clearing was an immobile cable car attached to one of the black cables.

Cautiously, Daniel walked over to the machine and pulled the sliding door open. He did not know what he would find inside, but he certainly wasn't expecting to see a girl about his age staring back at him with her round, blue eyes.

"Who the hell are you?" she exclaimed. She had short, puffy brown hair and tomboyish freckles on her face.

"I'm sorry," Daniel apologized sincerely. He knew that a stranger like him had no right to suddenly barge in like that. "My name is Daniel. I just transferred here, and I didn't know about the whole reservations thing. The man at the desk just put me here."

"That Old Bishop wasn't kidding when he said he'll find me a boyfriend if I come early this year," the girl said to herself. She then turned her attention back to the newcomer. "Don't just stand there like an idiot. Come sit. We have one extra seat every year. My name is Amanda Lee, by the way. Does it sound Asian? Well, I'm racially ambiguous anyways."

With a hint of hesitance, Daniel climbed aboard the cable car. The inside was similar to the compartment of a train; there was a long table at the center and seats on both sides. Because they had just met, Daniel did not want to jump into any conclusions about this Amanda person, but the way she rapidly fired out every single word she said without really thinking it through gave him the impression that she was rather hard to handle.

"We're just waiting for my friends," Amanda rambled on. "Micah said he's taking the Portkey with Seth, so they should be here soon. Hey, you said you just transferred here, right? You got a house yet?"

"Hmm?" Daniel asked, jumping at the unexpected question. "What house?"

"Wow, you definitely are new!" the girl cried with a gasp. "Don't you know that Ilvermorny has four houses? They are like factions based on your talent. The Horned Serpent is for the nerds, Wampus is the jocks, Thunderbirds are basically cool people like me, and Pukwudgies are a group of really nice people who don't win anything."

"Yup, that pretty much explains it."

A new voice entered the conversation. Seconds later, the source of the voice slammed the door open and bounced into the seat right next to Daniel. The newcomer was a boy with a dark tan and dirty blonde hair that was long overdue for a trim. His presence was lively enough, but he didn't look like someone you would want to mess with.

As soon as he sat down, another boy emerged through the door. He was about a head shorter than the former and a lot paler. The wire-rimmed glasses on his face jumped up and down as he struggled to climb aboard the car.

Daniel surveyed the people around him. They were not exactly what he would imagine a group of friends to be like, but they still seemed like nice people.

"Who is the new guy?" the boy with the glasses whispered furiously and conspicuously to Amanda as he sat down next to her. "You know I'm not good with strangers."

"This is the new transfer student," Amanda explained. "Daniel, meet Micah Wong and Seth Howl. Everyone, this is Daniel Astor. He didn't have a reservation so he got placed here."

"Pleasure to meet you, partner," the blonde said. "Seth Howl. Captain of the Wampus Quidditch team. Hope ya like Ilvermorny. Don't mind me asking, but what year are you gonna be attending?"

"Fifth year, I believe," Daniel replied, shaking Seth's outreached hand. When the handshake was over, he felt as if the bones on his hand would never heal.

"Just like the rest of us! Aww man, this is gonna be great!"

Seth's over-enthusiastic voice stopped as the ground beneath them began to rumble. Daniel panicked for a moment before he realized that it was just the movement of the car. He peered back at the window behind him and saw the trees slowly sliding by. Pretty soon, they were in the air. From then on, they could barely feel the movement from inside the car.

"The cable cars are pretty amazing," Amanda said when she noticed Daniel's expression. "We will be there before nightfall. After that, we have our sorting ceremony. You'll find out then what house you belong to then."

"A lot of new people this year," Micah grumbled under his breath, still unwilling to fully open himself to the new student.

For a second, Daniel felt a strange sense of deja vu crept over his shoulders. Those were the exact words the Old Bishop guy said. He had the feeling that those words go beyond describing just him and Abigail.

"Do you guys know anything about the new professor?" Seth asked suddenly.

"He's a hottie!" Amanda exclaimed with a huge smile on her face. "Ran into him the other day while shopping for the new textbooks. We totally had a connection there. And he is so nice! Gonna be staring at his gorgeous face for the rest of the year."

"Isn't he at least ten years older than you?" Micah scoffed. "Plus, it's illegal for a student to date her professor."

"At least he's daddy material. You know what they say: if you don't find a man by the fifth year, you'll have no one to go to the dances with. And only losers go alone. This is why I'm gonna try extra hard this year. Too bad all the guys in school suck. I mean, I literally friendzone everybody."

"Hey!" Seth exclaimed. "No offense taken at all. You are welcome."

"He is being placed as the new Deputy Headmaster of the school," Micah said, fully engaging in the conversation.

"Micah's parents are part of the Board of Magical Education," Amanda explained. "I asked them to change my final grade last year, but that didn't happen."

"Wait a minute," Seth cut in. "First year of teaching and he is already the Deputy Headmaster? He's gotta be super powerful or something."

"Not really," Micah said. "Apparently, he has some really good connections in the MACUSA. He is just a healer though. I heard he'll also be head of the house for Pukwudgie."

"Great," Amanda said. "Those boring shut-ins need a hot professor to spice up their life."

Daniel mind spun with all the new information he was gathering. A new professor suddenly gained such a high position? It was oddly coincidental considering that it was his first year attending the school as well. Did it had something to do with why he was suddenly enrolled here? The moment his mother broke the news to him did seem out of the blue.

"Hey, Daniel! You got a cat in there or something?"

Startled, Daniel quickly snapped back from his thoughts. It was Seth who had spoken, and he was pointing at the duffle bag Daniel had placed on his lap. It was wiggling around as if something inside was trying to get out.

"Oh shoot!" Daniel exclaimed. "Sorry, Abe! I totally forgot to let you out."

"Who is Abe?" Amanda asked, curiously peeking over the table. "Is it a cat? A mouse? Oh my god! Please tell me it's a hedgehog. Those guys are so cute!"

"Abe isn't really a tradition pet," Daniel said awkwardly as he reached into the duffle bag. When he pulled his hands out again, everybody else in the room gasped.

"It's a dragon" Micah blurted out.

The creature known as Able fluttered out of Daniel's hands and landed on the table. It was barely the size of an apple, with big, round eyes and short, stubby horns on its head. Green scales covered most of its body, and its tiny wings flapped excitedly as it gazed at the strangers around him.

"Aww! It's so cute!"

"It's like a cartoon baby dragon come to life."

"Is it dangerous?"

Immediately, everybody started talking at once. Amanda tried to reach out and pet the creature, but it blew a smoke ring defensively at her.

"Do I get second-hand smoking from that?"

"Guys, this is Abe," Daniel said, trying his best to be heard over the commotion. "My mother made him for me on my fifth birthday out of clay."

"I've never heard of breathing life into clay before," Micah said. "And the spell lasted for so long as well."

"It's not a spell," Daniel said with a laugh. "My mother is special in her own ways."

"Look, it's blowing another smoke ring!"

Although it wasn't exactly what he had in mind, Daniel was glad that he was able to impress everyone with Abe. Since he had grown up with these sculptures, he never expected one to cause such a huge fuss. As the cable car rose higher and higher up the mountain, the warm feeling in Daniel's heart rose as well. Even though he acted all cheery in front of his sister, he was actually really nervous about the new school year. However, this odd group of people managed to take all his fears and anxiety away. In fact, he might even call them friends.


	4. Chapter 4: Professor Leblanc

**Chapter 4: Professor Leblanc**

* * *

By time the cable car arrived at the school, night had already fallen in the horizon. The ending station was placed at the edge of the forest. They could see the school in the distance, but there was a path they had to walk through in order to reach the gates.

"Are you looking for someone?" Amanda asked as they gathered after another baggage check.

"Just my sister," Daniel replied. He craned his neck above the crowd of students but could not find her. The darkened skies made it nearly impossible for him to locate his target, and the enchanted lanterns hanging above their heads barely provided the proper lighting.

"You have a sister?"

"Same age. The exact opposite."

"That's so cool. I think I read in a magazine somewhere that twins have telekinesis powers. Maybe you can read her mind and find her or something…."

As Amanda rambled on about non-existent abilities, Daniel reached his hand to where his duffle bag was only to remember that he had given it to Ted earlier. The two security guards had promised that his bags would be delivered to his room in the school, but Daniel never told them that he had hidden Abe inside one of the bags. All he could do now was hope that they handled his stuff gently.

When it seemed like locating his sister would be impossible, Daniel just gave up. Instead, he turned to ask Micah something that had been bothering him ever since he got on the cable car.

"Hey, you know how there were thirteen doors at the station? When I went through one, I somehow ended up in that clearing. And when we got here, we went through another door and somehow ended up in this other station. I was wondering how that works."

"Oh," Micah said, a smile creeping up on his face. "That's Ilvermorny's state of the art dimensional magic employed by none other than Professor Leblanc. She is able to create pockets of space where things can coexist without intercepting. The clearing you saw was just a pocket of space that you enter once you open the door. It's really complicated stuff only the professor understands after years of studying illusion magic."

"I guess it works well to regulate traffic."

"Speaking of which, there she is right now."

Daniel looked at the direction of Micah's finger and found a woman trying to herd the students into one group. Her hair contained odd streaks of black and white and her long heels and black fur coat accentuated her height above the students.

"Come along now," she was saying. "There is just a small hike to the gates from here. Make sure to stay on the path and follow my wand light."

Professor Leblanc pulled out her wand and made a show of lighting it up. She looked around as if expecting an applause but received none. Annoyed, her cherry-colored lips curled into an ugly snarl before she turned away.

"I would watch out if I were you," Amanda whispered to Daniel. "She kicks both students and puppies."

Daniel couldn't help but laugh. It was like she could read his mind.

After advancing through the forest with only their wand lights to guide them, the students of Ilvermorny made it to the front gates of their school. As soon as Professor Leblanc opened the gates with a tap of her wand, some of the older students raced past her and ran into the courtyard.

"Come on!" Seth urged, pulling his friends forward. "We gotta get a table before the rest of them scums take it."

Suddenly, Daniel felt a tremendous force pulling his hand, nearly dragging him towards the open gate. During the ride over, Seth had said something about how he accidentally bent one the goal posts in the Quidditch field once, but Daniel would have never guessed that he was _this_ strong. However, as he was about to pass the gates, he felt another, equally strong force pulling him back.

"Mr. Astor, please come with me."

It was Professor Leblanc with her wand outstretched, but even she seemed to have difficulties countering Seth's strength.

"You can let go now, Mr. Howl."

It took a moment for Seth to fully register what was going on, but as soon as he did, he jumped and took a few steps away from the woman.

"Sorry, professor," he grumbled. "I didn't see you there."

"Just like how you didn't see the goal post you broke last year," Professor Leblanc commented with a strong hint of sass. "Why don't you run along now and tell your friend Lee that since this is her fifth year, her punishments will double if I caught her causing mischief again."

"Yes, ma'am."

Ashamed, Seth trudged toward the castle, dragging the rest of his friends with him. Amanda turned around and mouthed something along the lines of "I'm going to save you a seat". Daniel was barely able to watch them leave; Professor Leblanc's disapproving glare was too intimidating to ignore.

"Mr. Astor, as a new student here, I highly disapprove of your choice of hooligans. Your father put in a nice word for you two, and I expect both of you to keep it."

For a second, Daniel was confused as to why she seemed to be addressing two people. Then, he saw his sister emerge from the shadows behind her. She was fully dressed in her Ilvermorny robe.

"We will, professor," Abigail said politely. She shot her own disapproving look at her brother to which he responded with a shrug.

"Good," Professor Leblanc said with a satisfied nod. "Now, follow me. You two will have to go through the sorting ceremony along with the first years."

The professor strolled ahead while the two transfer students trailed behind her. Her heels clicked and clacked like a butcher chopping meat. Everywhere she went, she seemed to carry with her an atmosphere of terror, for students tend to back ten feet away when she walked near them. Even though they had just met, Daniel was already dreading a class with her as the teacher.

"Where have you been?" he whispered to his sister. "I've been looking everywhere for you."

"I've found a seat, thank you very much," Abigail replied with a haughty attitude. "Unlike you, I don't go running around with troublemakers."

Daniel opened his mouth to reply with his own sly remark but stopped when he noticed that they were walking towards a group extremely small students standing by the drawbridge. He was confused at first but then remembered Professor Leblanc saying something about them starting with the first years.

"Since we are older, does that mean we'll go last?"

"It's indiscriminately alphabetical," the professor answered. "This means you two will be among the first ones."

The information made Daniel's heart skip a beat. He didn't need the awkward stares from the group of eleven-year-olds to know how much he and Abigail stood out among them. They probably seemed like giants in the eyes of the kids.

"You wouldn't want to open that," Daniel said to one of the kids. She was fidgeting with a pink can with squiggly designs on the side. "I bought the same Slug Can before and spent last summer cleaning it from my room."

The Slug Can Girl looked up once and quickly ran off to where her friends were.

"Pedophile," Abigail murmured.

"You are such a downer," Daniel said, shaking his head.

"Alright children," Professor Leblanc announced, clapping her gloved hands together. "Get in a single file line alphabetically by last names in the next five minutes or else everybody will be getting detention."

The announcement caused quite a stir in the crowd. Some first years immediately panicked and ran around like a confused flock of birds. The calmer ones asked around for everybody's last names while others screamed their heads off. The scene was little short of a clown fiesta. Daniel reached into his pocket to where his wand was but hesitated. Even though he didn't want detention, using magic on the first years didn't seem appropriate..

" _Immobulus!_ " Abigail commanded, pointing her wand at the crowd.

Immediately, the students stopped what they were doing and just froze there.

"Ms. Astor!" Professor Leblanc exclaimed. "Release the spell this instant!"

Abigail lowered her wand and the effects of the spell disintegrated. However, the spell did more than immobilize the students. After Abigail tucked her wand away, the crowd grew silent and began organizing themselves like they were supposed to.

"See?" the fifth year said as she walked to the front of the line. "Sometimes, you just gotta knock some senses into them."

"Alright," Daniel said with a grin. "You win this time."

After some asking around, the siblings found themselves being placed between John Ardent and Phoebe Beans. Fortunately, everybody was able to get in their positions before the time limit expired (Daniel kept track of it for his own amusement). Obviously displeased that she was unable to hand out her punishment, Professor Leblanc surveyed the perfectly organized line with a frown on her face.

When she was to some extent "content" with her examination, she waved her wand in the air once and the drawbridge before them lowered. By that time, the older students had already gone inside the castle through another entrance. However, as Amanda explained during the ride there, the first years always went through the drawbridge entrance. It was traditional and it led right to the Sorting Room.

Excited and nervous, Daniel forgot that he was holding his breath. He let it out, but the expectations of the unknown before him turned his stomach ever so slightly. It didn't matter what house he got into, right? Unlike Hogwarts, he heard that the houses weren't as segregated in Ilvermorny. Still, he never really considered his talents before. Was he a warrior like the Wampus? Or maybe a scholar like the Twisted Serpent. Whatever it was, he was about to find out.


	5. Chapter 5: The Sorting Ceremony

**Chapter 5: The Sorting Ceremony**

* * *

The Sorting Ceremony was held in a circular room layered with shiny marble. Enchanted candles floated near the ceiling, illuminating every corner of the room. There were two floors; the first was where the sorting happened. Four wooden carvings opposite to where the students entered served as the "choosers" of each house. They were supposed to react when they deemed a student worthy of their house. The second floor was a balcony that encircled the perimeter of the room. Older students sat at tables and silently observed the proceedings below. The school's faculty members resided on their own special balcony on the same floor as the students, but their table was located directly above the wooden carvings.

When Daniel entered the room, he and the first years were told to stand by the walls of the room. Their names were called out one by one, and each student was supposed to walk up to the center of the Gordian Knot design. Since everybody pretty much lost their order once they had entered the room, Daniel questioned why Professor Leblanc made them do the alphabetical thing in the first place. Of course, based on the way Amanda had described her, he wasn't exactly surprised.

After the last student shuffled into the room, a woman from the faculty table stood up. She looked to be around her fifties with dark skin and a large silver headband holding up a bun of tangly black hair. Her robe was black with silver outlines like the rays of the moon. In her hand, she held a long parchment paper. As she began to read off the names of each student, a soft but demanding voice echoed throughout the room.

"Airheart, Jake."

The first name was called. A timid looking boy walked reluctantly to the middle of the room and stopped at the center of the Gordian Knot design on the floor. A few seconds later, the wooden carving in the shape of a bird sprang to life and flapped its wings.

"Thunderbird!" the woman announced.

A round of applause was heard from the balcony above. Jake looked pleased at first, but his pleasure soon turned into confusion as he looked around for a place to go. As if on cue, Professor Leblanc sprang up from her seat at the faculty table (she had somehow disappeared after guiding the students to the Sorting Room). With a wave of her wand, a set of stair appeared right next to the wooden carvings. Glad that his spotlight was over, the boy quickly ran up the stairs and disappeared into the balcony.

"Antill, Maria."

A girl from the crowd walked up quickly. After a few seconds, the cat-like carving roared its approval and the girl ran up the stairs to the join the Wampus house.

Just liked that, the announcer lady rapidly went through the next few students. Every single time, there was a respectful silence from the crowd followed by an enormous applause when the house was announced.

"Astor, Daniel."

The sound of the announcer seemed to strike a chord within Daniel. He could feel it vibrate throughout his body. He balled his hands up into fists, but it did nothing to calm his nerves. He took one step forward, and then another. His legs felt heavy. He could feel the eyes bearing down on him. Confused whispers filled the room like singing spirits. When he got to the center of the Gordian Knot, another wave of nerves washed over him.

"Ah, it's been a while since Ilvermorny had a transfer student," the announcer said.

Daniel looked up at the wooden carvings and waited for one of them to respond. Several seconds passed. His heart rate was rising. A large wad of panic was slowly building in his throat. What was taking so long?

The room had grown silent. The whispers had disappeared. Everybody was anticipating something to happen. An entire minute passed, but there was still no response from the statues.

Then, just when despair tapped on his shoulders, the goblin-like carving raised its arrow in the air.

"Pukwudgie!" the woman announced.

Suddenly, the room sprang into life once more. A storm of applause rained down from the balcony. His ceremony had been the longest of the night thus far, and everybody seemed extremely tense about it.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Daniel quickly jogged up the stairs. When he got to the last few steps, a familiar hand pulled him up.

"Damn!" Seth exclaimed. "That was the longest ceremony I've ever seen. All that excitement and you got Pukwudgie, though. That's kind of a bummer. Whatever. Just come sit with us."

Seth was right. Pukwudgie was the last house Daniel had expected to be placed in. Wasn't Pukwudgie for healers? He had never considered himself a healer before. During the cable car ride, Amanda had said that Pukwudgie wasn't exactly the greatest house. Daniel couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed at his sorting outcome.

The second-floor balcony doubled as a dining area. Individual tables of all sizes filled the room, and friends from all the different houses mingled with each other with no segregation at all. Daniel had heard about how Hogwarts had separate tables for each house, but Ilvermorny opened the seating options up for its students. The table that Seth lead Daniel to was just big enough for a four-person group.

"Congratulations," Amanda exclaimed as Daniel took the last seat beside her. "I normally don't say that to people who got Pukwudgie but this year is different."

"Astor, Abigail."

The announcer's voice snapped Daniel away from the conversation. He got up to get a closer look over the balcony as the mahogany-haired girl walk to the center of the knot. Instantly, all four wooden carvings reacted: the Thunderbird flapped its wings, the Wampus roared, the gem on the Horned Serpent's head glowed, and the Pukwudgie raised its arrow.

An uproar erupted from the crowd. Every student got up from their seats and began cheering enthusiastically. Even the teachers clapped from their table.

"Ms. Astor," the woman said. "You have the honor of being chosen by all four houses. At this moment, you will be able to select your own house."

"I pick the Horned Serpent," Abigail responded without hesitation.

As soon as the words left her mouth, a renewed round of cheers washed through the crowd. When she walked up the stairs, Abigail's head was held high and proud.

"Oh my god!" Amanda cried. "She just got chosen by all four houses! That's so awesome. Was she your sister, Daniel? Damn. I am so jealous right now. I can't believe I get to witness this twice in my life."

"Twice?" Daniel asked.

"She's referring to Kathryn Polymer," Micah explained. "She's in our year. She got chosen by all four houses as well, and she picked the Horned Serpent."

Daniel turned around as saw Abigail making her way through the ranks of students congratulating her. A smudge smile hanged proudly on her face. He waved at her to come over, but she simply ignored him and sat at another table with a group of girls who welcomed her with open arms.

"Ouch," Amanda commented. "Ignored."

"It's okay," Daniel said with a shrug. "I'm used to her edgy antics. I'm pretty happy for her though. She deserves the honor. She always puts in a lot of effort in her work."

"I thought you'd at least be a bit salty."

"Maybe. You can never tell with me."

After the excitement had died down, the announcer lady continued with the ceremony. It took about an hour to get through everyone, but nobody ever complained. Each applause was just as loud as the last, and every first-year student received a warm welcoming in the balcony. When the final student was sorted into her house, the announcer rolled up her scroll and took a more central position on her side of the balcony. It took a moment for Daniel to realize that she was actually standing on a podium.

"Once again, I would like to extend my warmest welcome to you all," she said. A thunderous round of applause followed. "Most of you have returned for another exciting year in Ilvermorny School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and some of you will begin your adventures through these ancient walls. As Headmistress of one of the most prestigious schools in the world, I humbly welcome you all for a wonderful year."

"That's the Headmistress?" Daniel whispered to his group.

"Yup," Amanda replied without bothering to lower her voice. "That's Headmistress Nightwind. She took over the school when the previous Headmaster died of food poisoning a decade ago. It's said that she is a descendant of the famous witch Tituba who survived the Salem Witch Trials. She's super awesome. She also teaches Defense Against the Dark Arts here. She knows really ancient magic so her lessons are always fun."

"Now, let's get down to business," Headmistress Nightwind continued. "Mr. William, our Head Caretaker, kindly reminds students that any wandering around the hallways past bedtime will result in immediate detention from the Head of their House.

"Quidditch season will start soon, and tryouts will be in three weeks. Sign-ups and tryouts will be coordinated by each house's team captain. Only second year and above students will be able to try out, but I personally love to see students of all ages come out and support their teams during games."

There was a small pause as she adjusted her posture. The dramatic gap between her words caused a cloud of suspense to build up in the room.

"And now, the announcement you have all been waiting for: the Grand Wizard Duel!"

The balcony erupted like a volcano with the loudest cheer of the night. Students were jumping out of their seats, and some were even crying. But Nightwind only needed to clap her hands together once for the noise to reside.

"As most of you know, the Grand Wizard Duel takes place every three years at Ilvermorny, and it's only available to fifth, sixth, and seventh years. I must remind you that to register for the competition, one would need a recommendation from their Head of the House and drop their names inside a special cauldron. The cauldron will only pick _two_ names from each house. Every time we get at least one fourth or third year who thinks they can surpass that cauldron's security, but as they later discovered, they were terribly outmatched from the start.

The tournament has two stages. The first consists of randomly mixed one on one duels between each house. Points will be attributed due to their performance. Winning the match will earn twice the amount. The second part is an all-out survival of the fittest. Every contestant will enter this duel for the chance of gathering the most points of all. The last one standing, of course, will get the chance to double their winnings."

"Of course, each duel will be monitored by the staffs and myself. We also have an impenetrable dark magic detector that will stop the match if the magic being used is too dangerous, so stick to the tricks you know and try to outwit your opponents rather than outpower them. Do I make myself clear?"

"YES!" was the response.

Nightwind proceeded to explain other activities on campus, but Daniel was not really interested. Instead, he shifted his attention to Abigail and was surprised to find her staring right back at him. The Grand Wizard Duel would definitely be something she would be interested in. Of all the years he had known his sister, never once would she turn down a chance for glory. She hated losing with a passion, and one would definitely be delusional if they decided to step in the way of her deadly whirlwind, but Daniel felt that he should at least give it a try.

"Now that we got all important matters out of the way," Professor Nightwind said after the last announcement was finished. "Let's begin our feast!"

"What feast?"

As soon as those words left Daniel's mouth, a plate of steak and mash potatoes appeared right before his eyes. There was a clink as multiple utensils fell out of nowhere onto his plate. Looking around, Daniel could see plates of food on every table. The foods ranged from plates of lobster to bowls of salad and everything in between.

"So I was thinking," Amanda said with a mouthful of corn. "What are my chances of getting picked by the cauldron thing?"

"If anything, I should get picked," Seth interjected. "As captain of the Wampus Quidditch team, I'm practically the most important person in my house."

"Yeah," Micah said, rolling his eyes. "Because all the Wampus house cares about is Quidditch."

"What about my man Daniel here?" Seth said. "He's by far the most interesting person in his house."

"I don't think the cauldron works like that," Micah said with a sigh.

"You know," Amanda said, "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm pretty jealous you got Pukwudgie. I want a hot professor as the Head of my house."

Daniel instinctively looked over to the staffs' side of the balcony. They were arranged in a long table facing the students. Professor Nightwind sat in the middle, on a chair that stood higher than all her colleagues. Right beside her was a man whom Daniel assumed to be the infamous Professor Bennett. He was pretty hard to miss considering that Amanda had spent the entire ride there describing him.

"Oh, so that's him," Seth said. He had turned to glance in the same direction as well. "To be honest, I was expecting worst."

His comment earned him a slap on the arm.

"Are you all trying out for that duel thing?" Daniel asked, returning to the plate before him. The steak reminded him of something that he would eat at his father's house.

"Of course!" Amanda exclaimed. "It's only the greatest wizard tournament in America! It's about more than the cash prize. The glory is what everybody aspires for."

When the everybody had eaten their share of the main course, the plates magically disappeared only to be replaced by platters of dessert. Daniel's table was littered with mountains of jello, pies, ice cream, cookies, and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. It was like a child's paradise. Daniel immediately dug in, but the rest of the gang did not seem so pleased with the food.

"They didn't give us any Chocolate Frogs!" Amanda cried.

"Do you reckon they're onto us?" Seth asked, a worried frown etched on his face.  
"It's just a just coincidence," Micah said. "They will never find us out. I made sure of it."

Their conversation was starting to worry Daniel a nit. He wanted to ask but decided otherwise. The less he knew about whatever they were talking about, the better.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 **Originally, this was supposed to include some dormitory scenes, but I ended up with to many ideas to put in one chapter, so I'm gonna divide it into two.**

 **TY for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6: The Goddess of Snow

**Chapter 6: The Goddess of Snow**

* * *

Although half an hour had passed, it seemed like barely minutes before the desserts were taken away. From the staff table, Headmistress Nightwind stood up and gave her final speech of the night.

"My dear children," she began, "I believe it is time to head to your dormitories. The lights will go out at ten, and we will see you tomorrow for the first day of the new semester. The Head of each house will escort you to your quarters and tell you the new passwords."

Instantly, students rose from their seats like zombies rising from the dead. Daniel never noticed how crowded the balcony was until everybody began moving around. Nevertheless, there was barely any shoving or yelling. Most people seemed to have already established their own pathway out of the dining area.

"Time to hit the hay," Seth said with a yawn. "See y'all tomorrow."

Seth's yawn reminded Daniel of how tiresome the day was. He had woken up earlier than usual and hadn't slept a wink since. Every muscle in his body seemed to ache as he forced himself up from his seat. His eyelids felt heavy as if weights were being forced on them, and he needed to bit his lips to keep alert.

Since Nightwind said to follow the Head of the house, Daniel scanned the entire room for Professor Bennett. Luckily, he didn't need to look hard to find him.

"Mr. Astor," A voice said from the midst of the crowd. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

A moment later, Daniel found himself shaking Professor Bennett's outstretched hand. As soon as he did, an icy shock shot through his entire body. It was like he had plunged his hand into a frozen pond. He pulled back quickly with the realization that Seth's handshakes weren't as bad in comparison.

"Umm…," Daniel muttered, unsure of how to reply. "Hello, professor."

"I met your mother over the summer," Professor Bennett said enthusiastically. "Big fan of her work. It's a shame I didn't see you at the time. Nevertheless, I think the Pukwudgie house has gained a great member."

"Thank you?" Daniel answered, but his statement ended up sounding like a question instead.

"I'm sorry for holding you up here," the professor continued. "You must be tired. Follow me. We will round up the rest of the house and head to the dorms."

Without a better option, Daniel followed the professor as he walked around the room, calling out for the rest of his house. After a few minutes, they ended up with a hundred or so students packed in a small, tight group. They had significantly fewer members than the other houses, but that proved to make the journey less troublesome.

When they exited the dining room, they immediately headed up a flight of stairs that lead to a rather long hallway filled with paintings. Each golden frame supported a picture of a past professor. As the students piled through, the paintings clapped and cheered like a welcoming committee. The rest of the journey basically consisted of a conglomeration of stairs and hallways. Daniel tried his best to take in every single detail, but the mental map in his brain soon became overloaded with new information.

"Professor," a girl spoke out at one point, "this isn't the way to our dorms."

"You forgot to take a turn by the statue," another girl pipped in. "We are at a dead end right now."

She was right. The corridor they were going down ended with a brick wall. The only thing on it was a portrait of a woman in a white gown standing in a field of snow. Her hair flowed gently with the wind like a river of silver. Large, black swords and axes impaled the ground around her. The lady was the pure definition of elegance and beauty, yet her surroundings spoke the appalling language of war and suffering.

"It's a shortcut," Professor Bennett explained.

Without hesitation, he walked up to portrait and knocked on the frame three times. To everyone's surprise, the lady turned her attention to him and spoke in a soft, echoey voice.

" _What is it that you seek?"_

"A masterpiece to call my own."

The portrait swung open like a door, revealing a gaping hole that led to a large living room area with a table, a few armchairs, and a fireplace. Recognizing their lounge, the Pukwudgie students rushed in after the professor.

"I've never heard of this entrance before," the initial girl said. She had dark hair tied into pigtails and a cynical frown on her face. "In all my five years here, none of the professors even mention about this."

"That's because none of them know," Professor Bennett said with an innocent smile. "Back when I attended Ilvermorny, my best friend and I often got into a lot of mischiefs. One time, we blasted a hole in that dead-end wall. We covered it up with a painting and used some extra precautionary enchantments on it. Nobody ever suspected a thing. It became kind of like our secret passageway, and it is _way_ faster to get to than the official entrance."

He was right about the extra precautionary enchantments, for when the painting swung closed, a copy of it immediately appeared on the interior side of the lounge. It appeared that one would need to undergo the same procedures in order to get in and out through that pathway.

"What about the password?" the girl pressed on.

"It was a kind of a prank at first, but we eventually kept it. All you need to do is tell Aurora, the goddess of snow, what you want most, and the painting will swing open."

"What you want most…," Daniel repeated in a whisper. "So it's like telling the painting something personal."

"Why in the world would I want to share something personal with a painting?" the girl asked in an increasingly aggravated tone.

"Tiffany is right," her friend chimed in. "Why can't we just use the old entrance."

The students around them began murmuring their disapproval as well until eventually, Professor Bennett raised a hand of defeat.

"That's totally fine," he said. "The password for the old doorway this year is 'Snowman'. Just make sure not to tell anyone about this shortcut and the password to the old doorway. Anyways, why don't I show you all to your beds? For new students here, Ilvermorny dorms usually consist of one room with two beds and a bathroom. Roommates can be requested but it's mostly randomized each year, and I guess if you really hate that person you can talk to me."

Professor Bennett directed the girls through one door to their dormitories and the boys to another. After climbing up another flight of spiraling stairs and wandering through hallways, Daniel located a door with a plate labeled "Astor/Squanto". A few seconds later, he found himself standing in a cozy little room with two beds. One of the beds had a familiar suitcase resting beside it. In the midst of all the excitement, he had nearly forgotten about his luggages.

Just as he unzipped the top compartment of the suitcase, another boy entered the room. He had brown eyes that matched his skin and hair that sparkled under the chandelier of candles.

As he walked into the room, he seemed to not realize Daniel was there at all. He simply stripped down to a black t-shirt and shorts and landed facedown on the bed.

"Hey…," Daniel began awkwardly.

Before he could say anything else, the sound of snoring pervaded the room. _He must have had a tiresome day too,_ Daniel thought as he proceeded to unpack his backs with a new level of cautiousness.

The moment he lifted the first compartment of his bag, Abe shot out into the air like a bullet. Grateful to finally be freed from the prison of clothes and books, the miniature dragon shot a small fireball into the air.

Daniel spent the next ten minutes calming his pet down. When he finally got Abe to crawl up on the nightstand and revert back to his stone state, a loud bell sound shattered through the silence like a wrecking ball ramming through a glass wall. Immediately, the enchanted candles above their heads blew out, leaving only a trail of smoke in its wake.

Feeling completely discouraged from finishing his unpacking, Daniel propped down on his new bed and closed his eyes. Even though he was absolutely exhausted from the day's excitement, he anticipated a pretty rough night; he never slept well in new places. He either woke up several times at night, had strange dreams, or both.

Lying there on the soft mattress with his body under covers and his eyes staring into absolute darkness, a part of him felt completely relaxed. Something told him that he was meant to be there. There was something he needed to do, but he wasn't sure what. Confusion and worries had plagued him for most of his life, but at that moment, he pushed it all down as his mind drifted slowly into the abyss….

 _He was dreaming again._

 _Daniel hated his dreams. They always gave him a strange feeling. It wasn't like those movies where the dream shows the protagonist future events or something like that. No. His dreams were just...weird._

 _This time, it was no different._

 _He was standing in the middle of a field of snow. Icy winds howled like wolves and snow pelted down like bullets. Every step buried him knee-deep in snow. When he looked back, a trail of footprints recorded his endless journey through the wasteland._

 _There were weapons half-buried in the snow. Daniel reached out and touched the handle of an axe. Like all the other weapons in the field, it was completely black, layered with a thin blanket of frost. However, when he tried to grab onto it, it simply crumbled into sand in his hand._

 _Suddenly, the snowstorm stopped. When he looked up, he saw her, Aurora, the goddess of snow. It was a strange dream, indeed. With the glassy eyes of the goddess bearing down on him, Daniel felt like an ant in her presence._

 _There was something she wanted._

 _No!_

 _There was something_ he _wanted._

" _What is it that you seek?" the lady asked in her mellow voice._

 _This was it. This was_ his _moment. Yet, when Daniel racked his brain for an answer, none came. What was the one thing he wanted the most? Something about a masterpiece. No! That was someone else's story. But what about his story? He wanted to give the goddess an answer, but he just...couldn't._

 _Another gust of wind blew against his skin. Just like that, Aurora was gone, and he was alone once again in the cold wasteland…._


	7. Chapter 7: Four Deadly Sins

**Some clarifications for those not yet familiar with the lore in America**

 **MACUSA - American version of the Ministry of Magic**

 **Four Deadly Sins - something original I made up. Not part of JK Rowling's lore.**

 **Medical Theology - Original Class. Not part of lore. It's like a class about medicine.**

 **The Grand Wizard Duel - Original event. Not part of lore.**

* * *

CHAPTER SEVEN: Four Deadly Sins

Daniel came down to breakfast the next day feeling groggy as if his whole head was submerged in water; it was the same experience he felt whenever he was forced to sleep in a new environment. Daniel was a morning person, so when he walked into the Dining Balcony at daybreak, the room was completely devoid of life.

The boy never understood why people preferred to waste their day in bed. Nevertheless, it worked to his advantage. He didn't have to fight over the bathroom with his roommate...or get any opportunity to talk to him at all for that matter.

As he made his way to the same table from last night (his memory had served him well for most of his life), Daniel was suddenly struck by a fragment of last night's dream. What did he want? It seemed like an awfully philosophical question, the kind that appeared in very cliche books. That morning, he had used the regular entrance to exit the dorms, for the dream had given him an irrational fear of the secret doorway.

Pushing that thought aside, he began to dig into the breakfast platter that had appeared before him. Luckily, whoever cooked the food was a morning person as well.

When he was just about done with his meal, other students began piling in. The first member from his table that came in was Amanda, and she looked just as bright and cheery as ever.

"Well, you're up early," she commented. Up close, he saw a huge stack of library books in her bag. "Did you have a nice first night here in Ilvermorny?"

"Fine," Daniel replied, taking a sip of his coffee. "What are you reading?"

"Quite a lot of boring stuff, actually," Amanda sighed. "You should be hitting the books too if you want to do well in your O.W.L.s."

Daniel nodded. He knew he was forgetting something. The fifth year in Ilvermorny was the busiest and most challenging year of all. Everyone was scrambling around, trying to learn all they could for the O.W.L.s (Ordinary Wizarding Level) exam, which was a subject-specific test taken at Ilvermorny by the examination authority, and their results would determine what job opportunities they would peruse.

"Morning, guys," Seth seemed to have materialized beside them along with Micah, who had his nose buried in a newspaper. "So, here is the news. The Pukwudgie team needs a good seeker. Tryouts will be next Tuesday. Daniel, you game?"

"No thank you," Daniel replied kindly. "I really can't play Quidditch. Besides, why are you advertising for my house?"

"Old Chambers can't advertise for his life!" Seth laughed, slapping Daniel in the back so hard that he almost choked on a piece of toast. "Come down to the fields next week. I don't even need to save you a spot cuz nobody else is gonna try out anyways."

"Really, don't," Daniel insisted. He was getting impatient, and his face flushed conspicuously red. "I…um…have this thing…to do on Tuesday night."

"The tryouts are on Wednesday."

"That's what I meant. I have to do something important on Wednesday, and I really can't attend the tryouts."

"No, I'm joking! The tryouts are actually on Thursday."

Daniel gave Seth his most menacing look. He had been played like a rag doll. It wasn't one of his proudest moments to fall for such deceit, but Seth backed off when he realized that Daniel couldn't be persuaded.

"If you're not interested in Quidditch, then why don't you join one of my clubs?" Amanda suggested. "There is bound to be something you're interested in. I am president of the Student Council, which is a student bodied organization that plans events at school and improve the overall environment on campus. Mostly, we just complain about stuff to the staffs. Seth and Micah are in it too, and we have a position open if you're interested."

"Thanks, Amanda," Daniel smiled wearily. It was an off-handed chance - a coin toss - that he just happened to befriend three of the busiest students on campus. To be honest, it had never occurred to him that he would be joining any extracurricular clubs this year. "How about I get back to you on that."

"We only join because she forced us to," Micah explained, not bothering to glance up from his newspaper.

"I never force anyone to do anything," Amanda argued. She waved the piece of toast she was holding in the air, sending a shower of bread crumbs everywhere. "I just needed a reliable cabinet."

"Interesting," Micah said, changing the subject completely. For the first time that morning, he glanced up and turned the newspaper around to show the group what he was reading. "The MACUSA is having trouble with unauthorized Portkeys in No-Maj public areas. Well, the article compared it to Portkeys, but it's more like a massive portal. Apparently, someone has been trying to conjure up some of these portals. The editors are making this seem like a scandal. They are accusing the President of MACUSA, James Polymer, of covering for the criminal."

"Do you reckon it's some undercover government project?" Amanda exclaimed. "I read about those in spy books."

"That old wack Polymer," Seth said with a snicker. "He ain't the same since his wife died. Always up to some crazy stuff. I don't know why they keep him in such a high position for so long. His mental state is -"

In a flash, Amanda's hand shot out and stabbed the Quidditch captain on his side, causing him to double over in search of breath. The attack was so subtle that Daniel almost missed it. Before Seth could voice out his complaints, the Thunderbird girl slapped her other hand over his mouth and pulled him down.

A shadow loomed over their table. It was a girl passing by. She had light blonde hair that fell along the length of her fragile spine in a braid. She kept her eyes downcast, and she walked as if she was floating in a cloud of daydreams.

"Oops, my bad," Seth whispered. "Didn't see her there."

"Yeah," Amanda said with a huff. "Don't want Kathryn Polymer crying again before the semester even starts."

Daniel stood up to get a closer look at the passerby, but she had already disappeared into the crowd of students coming in for breakfast

"Isn't she the girl who was also chosen by all the houses like my sister?" Daniel asked. "I heard you mention her once before. Is she related to James Polymer?"

"Yup. She is his daughter," Seth answered. "A huge wacko, too. Apparently, some weird things went down when her mom died. Now, her entire family is messed up. She wouldn't talk to anyone. She cries by herself all the time. She doesn't even attend half of the meals."

"I've been doing some puritan reading recently," Micah chimed in. "All evidence points to her family making a deal with the devil."

"A bunch of hokum if you ask me," Amanda said. "My parents are always talking about going to heaven and hell and all that crap. Can we talk about something else? I don't want to be reminded of them before the semester even starts."

"Alright then," Micah said. "How are your schedules holding up?"

Daniel instinctively pulled out the folded up piece of parchment he found on his nightstand that morning. It was apparently his class schedule for the semester. When he was homeschooled by his parents, they never labeled the classes. They just taught him whatever they wanted. Looking at the meticulously planned out school day ahead of him, he could already feel the difference.

"I got Defense Against the Dark Arts first period," Amanda said, slapping her schedule down on the table. "Transfiguration second, Charms third, Potions fourth, lunch fifth, Medical Theology sixth, and History of Magic as my final class. Cough it up, boys."

One by one, the rest of the group placed their papers on the table and leaned to get a closer look at each other's schedule. Daniel's first period was Defense Against the Dark Arts, second was History of Magic, third was Transfiguration followed by Charms, lunch, Potions, and Medical Theology. He saw that most of his classes were shared with at least one person in the group, but before he could read into the details, the three snatched their papers away.

The rest of the hour passed by with a lot of eating and chatting. Most of the conversation was directed toward their classes and school. Amanda, in particular, tried her best to educate Daniel as much as possible about her opinions of teachers and the classes. However, most of her words seemed to pass through one end of his ears and out the other like empty air.

By the time the bell rang for first period, Daniel still felt unready. He was unsure of whether his past curriculum coincided with national standards. What if he walked into class that day with no knowledge of anything they were talking about? Although Daniel had found comfort in his ability to push all his worries aside, there were still leftover remnants haunting his every waking hour. It didn't matter that he was one of the first people in the castle to greet the new day, the extra minutes only gave him even more time to fret about irrational fears.

"Come on," Amanda urged, grabbing Daniel's black book bag as she rose from her seat. Her voice was muffled by the piece of toast hanging from her mouth.

Unwilling to let his nervousness show, Daniel stood up quickly and followed his friends out the room. Outside, the hallway was a complete traffic jam. It took a few minutes for the area to clear out. After that, everybody went their separate ways to attend their respective classes.

Even though they all had the same first period together, Daniel still kept his eyes on the school map printed on the back of the schedule as he trudged behind his friends through long corridors, spiraling stairs, and large doors. The Ilvermorny castle was one heck of a maze. Daniel got lost several times while trying to decipher the map. Occasionally, he would have Micah point out their location so he could find himself on the map again.

After ten minutes of nonstop speed walking ("The best way to prep for Quidditch games," Seth said), they arrived in front of a wooden door with a dainty layer of blue paint on it. The crooked sign above it read "Defense Against the Dark Arts".

Micah was the one that pushed the door open. He strolled into the classroom proudly even though they were a few minutes late. The interior of the room was warm and cozy. There wasn't a fireplace, but the atmosphere in the room felt completely different from the outside. The most spectacular view was the ceiling. Thousands of stars lit up the enchanted design above them. It was as if the entire universe rested right above their heads. There were about thirty or so students in the room, each with their own table and workspace. Overall, it seemed as if the owner put a lot of effort into a simple classroom.

"Welcome, welcome!" Headmistress Nightwind greeted them. Contrast to her more formal announcer voice, she had adopted a jolly, grandmother-like tone. "Y'all just in time for the lesson."

Daniel took a seat near the back corner of the room with Amanda and Seth while Micah strolled up to the front and took the seat right in front of the Headmistress.

"For those who don't know me," the woman continued, "My name is Ravina Nightwind, and I will be acting as the Headmistress of this fine institution as well as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

As she said that, Headmistress Nightwind turned and smiled at Daniel. Immediately, all eyes turned to him as well.

"Popular kid, huh?" Seth snickered, giving Daniel and playful kick.

Daniel's face turned red hot. He couldn't bring himself to look back at his classmates, so he just kept his head down and waited for the eyes to go away. They were all fifth years, so the only reason the Headmistress went through the introduction was for him.

"I have promised last year that this is the year I start teaching you some fun stuff," Professor Nightwind said as she jotted down a list consisting of three numbers on the chalkboard behind her. "Our lesson today begins with a question: What are three Unforgivable Curses?"

Almost instantaneously, a hand in the front of the room shot up.

"The Cruciatus Curse, the Imperius Curse, and the Killing Curse," Micah answered.

"Correct as always, Mr. Wong," Professor Nightwind said and began writing the names on the board. "These curses held immense power often used by dark wizards to cause harm. The Cruciatus Curse is the torture curse, making its victim feel immense pain. One such incident, recorded in Britain during the time of Voldemort, placed a couple in a coma. The Imperius Curse is a mind-controlling curse, and the Killing Curse, of course, serves its name quite nicely.

"But I believe this unit was covered last year, am I right? Today, we will be talking about something a bit more...convoluted. Now, class...can anyone tell me about the four Deadly Sins."

Once again, Micah's hand was the first in the air, but Professor Nightwind decided to call on the girl sitting next to him instead.

"Are you talking about the Deathly Hallows, professor?" Tiffany asked. She was the same girl who had raised doubts about the secret door last night.

"Very good knowledge, Ms. Laudanum. Unfortunately, they are not related whatsoever. The four Deadly Sins are similar to the Unforgivable Curses in that they are forbidden to most magic users. However, they are not just simple spells. They are rituals.

"The first sin is the sin of raising the dead. Its process is detailed in the Necronomicon. So far in history, only the Greeks have been able to successfully perform this ritual. There is a contemporary case in which two brothers attempted to revive their mother, but that ended terribly. It is dangerous magic that does more harm than good. Plus, it messes with the natural order of things. This is why the ritual has been ban since ancient times and is part of the Deadly Sins.

"The second sin is the creation of a homunculus. There were a few cases of success in medieval times, but the ritual is even more difficult and dangerous than the first. Homunculus are said to be creatures of immense magical power, and because of the threat, it is also banned.

"Next, we have the Raven Mocker Ritual. It is way easier to perform than the previous two, and it allows one to absorb the magical powers of another. So in essence, you are stealing another wizard's powers. Very illegal, of course, but it is a common ritual among the users of the dark arts.

"Finally, we have the Caged Bird Seance, one of the most mysterious rituals of all. It theoretically allows one to travel to a world coined as 'Purgatory', the land between the living and the dead. Very few people have successfully performed this ritual before. It just so happens, the only person alive that has gone through it is currently teaching at this very school."

"You mean you have actually done it before, professor?" Amanda blurted.

"No, not me," ProfessorNightwind said with a smile. "The honor goes to Professor Bennett."

* * *

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	8. Chapter 8: An Introduction Letter

CHAPTER 8: An Introduction Letter

"Wowie, wow-wow!" Amanda exclaimed as she exited the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. She was practically jumping in the air with excitement. "Can you believe he has actually done one of the rituals before?"

"I've read about the Deadly Sins somewhere," Micah said, walking out of the classroom with the rest of the students. "Apparently, they are so secretive that barely any textbooks even mention them. People say the Death Curse like it just rolls out of their tongue, but these rituals take a lot of time and magical abilities to pull off. "

"Damn, imagine that," Seth chuckled, shaking his head. "Can't believe some dudes actually tried to revive the dead. What do you think, Daniel? Ever heard of those crazy ass sin thingies?"

"Huh?" Daniel murmured as he was suddenly shaken out of his bubble. The Deadly Sins were something he had been researching about at home for a while. There was one particular ritual he had been keen on, but he wasn't sure whether he should let on how much he knew to the group.

"See?" Amanda said, giving Daniel a light punch in the arm. "There are two types of nerds. Daniel is the stoic, quiet, you-can-never-tell-what-I'm-thinking one, and Micah is the straight-up-tell-you-that-you-are-stupid one."

"Sometimes I wonder why we are even associated," Seth said with a sigh.

"Yup!" Amanda nodded her head in agreement. She bounced off the ground like a spring and dashed toward the direction of her next class. "It's one of the many wonders of the world."

The next period of the day for Daniel was History of Magic. The pink-carpeted and mothball-smelling room was owned by none other than Mrs. Rosethorne, an elderly lady who loved her daily dose of political rants. She literally spent the entire period that day ranting about the MACUSA's new legislation on immigrant wizards. By the time the period ended, Daniel wondered why she had asked them to turn to page twenty-one in the textbook in the first place. He shared the class with Seth, and they made enchanted catapults out of paper to launch pebbles at each other to kill time.

Third period Transfiguration was a whole other story. Daniel had forgotten that Professor Leblanc was the teacher until he walked into the candle-lit room. He was slightly late because he had missed a staircase. As Daniel stood in front of the room looking for an open seat, someone suddenly grabbed him by the shoulder.

"YEEP!" the boy exclaimed. A sudden rush of air escaped his lungs, and for a moment, all he could see was red.

When his vision cleared, he was panting hard as if he had just run a mile. A few sweat beads dropped from his face. His classmates were laughing. They didn't seem to notice the chaotic expression on his face. Daniel closed his eyes and took a deep breath to stabilize himself. He opened his eyes again and looked around the room once more. Abigail was there, and she was among the people laughing. How could she be laughing? She should know how close he was to dying right there.

"And that class," Professor Leblanc said as she emerged from a door behind the very last row of desks, "Is the power of a shadow clone spell. Its physical abilities are limited, but it helps you complete small tasks from afar. In this case, the task is to scare the daylights out of a tardy student. Please take a seat, Mr. Astor. We are running late on schedule as it is."

Not sure whether to feel embarrassed about being called out or relieved that he did not die, Daniel walked with his head down to the back of the room where he found a seat at the very corner. What a great way to start the period.

"Alright, you ungrateful savages," Professor Leblanc announced. "I doubt any of you will get a decent score on the OWL exam, but they did pay me to teach you something so here we are again."

 _Ungrateful savages,_ Daniel thought. _What a great way to start the lesson._

"Mr. Astor!" the professor announced, catching the boy off guard once again. "Take out your wand and disintegrate the orange that Mr. Oakland snuck from the kitchen into ashes."

With the speed of a mighty storm, Professor Leblanc snatched a half-peeled orange from the hands of the boy in front of her and placed it in front of Daniel. Surprised at the sudden attention, Daniel sat staring at the fruit for about a minute before he could react. The whole class watched as he hesitantly pulled his wand out of his pocket and tapped on the orange.

" _Cindere_ ," Daniel whispered the spell with a shaky voice.

The fruit fell into a pile of ashes on the table.

"Good. Now, turn the ashes into a bird."

Some students began looking at each other with a confused expression. A sweat bead formed by the previous scare rolled down the side of Daniel's face like a teardrop. Was it just him, or was everybody more on edge than usual?

" _Vivere Volare,_ "

At that moment, it seemed as if the whole world held its breath. Then, the black sands began to move. A moment later, a beak popped out on top of the layer. It was followed by the head, the wings, and eventually, an orange colored bird flew out of the classroom through an open window. Daniel looked over at his sister just in time to catch her yawning.

"Impressive, Mr. Astor," Professor Leblanc commented (although she did not seem the least bit impressed). "I only teach this to seventh-year students. So, it seems you have just wasted our valuable class time. Alright, you cretins, eyes back on the board! Today we will be studying the properties of water and how we can manipulate it..."

After that episode, the rest of the class dragged on as usual with the Professor Leblanc singling out and embarrassing students who had fallen asleep during the lecture. Occasionally, Daniel would catch the eyes of a classmate, and they would either smile or give him a thumbs up. He later learned from Amanda that he was one of the first students to actually pass Professor Leblanc's challenges. Was the bird spell really that difficult? Daniel didn't think so when he read about it, so he didn't understand what the big deal was.

Charms class was lead by a man named Ernesto Velasco. He was a short man with a mustache almost as thick as his accent. He wore a freshly ironed black suit that never seemed to crease, and his every movement was a meticulous effort to remain what he considered to be absolute perfection.

Contrast to the previous classrooms, Charms took place in an open auditorium space. In fact, there was even a stage where Professor Velasco stood to give his lectures

"The stage is beneath my talent," he said. "As my audience, it is your job to applaud my performance. As the artist, it is my job to elevate you with my talent."

"If only he is as tall as his ego," Amanda whispered with a chuckle. She was the only person Daniel knew in the class.

For the rest of the class period, the professor rambled on about how he was going to elevate them to the level of beauty set by national standards (basically his way of saying that he would help them ace their OWLs). He also went into a deep monologue about his experiences as an actor in famous wizard films before he started teaching ("His biggest gig was doing a children's cereal commercial," Amanda explained). Daniel didn't know how it translated into anything in the curriculum, but apparently, he told the same story every year.

By the time the period was over, Daniel felt like he had just walked out of a terribly scripted telenovela. Professor Velasco's stories had kept them in an extra ten minutes, and by the time they got to the dining balcony, the area was already jam-packed with students and their lunch. When they met up with the rest of the gang, Seth and Micah didn't even bother asking why they were late.

The lunch period went by so fast that Daniel was barely able to catch a breath before he found himself shoved into Potions class. Micah was there, but he might as well not have been since he ignored Daniel completely for the entire class period.

The Potions teacher also served as the Head of the House for Thunderbird. He was referred to as White Wolf, and his great-great-great-grandfather used to lead a Native American tribe around the area. His family had deep knowledge of herbs and chemicals which they passed down through generations. He even had on one of those colorful shawls and feather hats. He was a very patient and kind old man, but he was forced to teach his class in one of the old astronomy towers where the howling wind outside often overlapped his soft and gentle voice.

White Wolf (he refused to be called "professor") gave them a quick rundown of what he would be able to cover for the OWLs exam. After that brief talk, he taught them how to brew a simple antidote that would cure most snake poisons.

Compared to the other classes he had been to, Daniel found Potions to be the most enjoyable because of how calm and relaxing the experience was. There wasn't a challenge "pop quiz" nor a long egotistic speech. White Wolf also seemed more approachable than all the other teachers he had seen today.

The final class on Daniel's list was Medical Theology. Since it was a new class that was just added this year, many students were more or less antsy. Daniel could tell by the conversations of his classmates as they walked to an old wing of the castle that hadn't been used in years that not many favored an extension on the curriculum.

"Don't know why they're making us take some medical course," Seth voiced out his complaint. "Could have just made it an elective instead of a main course."

"The head Auror made a pretty good case for it at the board meeting," Micah explained. "He said that Herbology is outdated and this new course should be more 'modern' for today's wizard technology and standards."

"No way!" Seth exclaimed. "Big Al supports this?"

Before Seth could say more, the group of students they were walking with fell silent. They were at the entrance of the classroom. Daniel was one of the first students to walk into the room, and he was completely awed by what he saw.

Rows of paintings were hung at every available space on the walls. Some showed the flawlessness of landscapes and sceneries while others focused on the beauty of animals. There was a black and white sketch of Ilvermorny down to the smallest of details. There was one that depicted a tribe of Pukwudgies dancing beside a campfire. However, what caught Daniel's attention the most was one painting near the back corner of the room. At first, he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him, but the red hair of the woman in that painting was unmistakable. _How?_ Daniel wondered as he took the seat right beside it _. This must be a coincidence._

"Woah," Seth said as he took the seat right next to him. "Who took the time to actually draw all these. I thought this was a Medical Theology class, not an art class."

Daniel didn't reply. He was too busy looking that the painting of the red-haired woman. _It couldn't be, right?_

After everybody had been seated, there was still no sign of their teacher. Daniel reached his hand out to touch the painting, but just as his hand made contact with the cold, wooden frame, Professor Bennett walked into the room.

He looked a bit worse for wear. His hair was a bit messed up, his shirt was button incorrectly, and his expression mimicked the look of a crazed murderer. He paused halfway into his table in the front of the class. Seeming to suddenly realize his disorganized appearance. He rushed out of the room. When he returned once again five minutes later, he was in a more presentable manner with a stack of papers in his hands.

"Sorry for the wait, guys," Professor Bennett said, sounding slightly out of breath. "I'm not used to this crazy thing. I asked Professor Leblanc to make some copies of papers for me...and well...apparently she disliked me just as much as she did back then."

"Professor," Tiffany Laudanum said. "You are twenty minutes late to class."

"Well, I was always late to class as a student, anyways," the professor replied with a smile, but none of the students returned it.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Professor Bennett suddenly remembered what he was going to say.

"Oh, sorry!" he exclaimed. "Introductions... My name is Daryn Bennett. After I graduated from Ilvermorny, I went to study wizard medicine at Sorebone University. I also worked at John Hoppers Hospital for a while which is probably the only credential I have for teaching here. As you can tell by the classroom, I really enjoy art and painting. My apartment in New York is like this: completely littered with paintings, so it helps me feel at home."

"John Hoppers?" Tiffany asked. "The best wizarding hospital in the country?"

"They call it that, but I like to consider it the snobbiest in the country."

His comment earned a few chuckles from the class, and Tiffany seemed to look at him with a newfound respect.

"Okay, class!" Professor Bennett said. "I remembered that when I attended Ilvermorny, I always hated how much teachers bombard you with on the first day. I heard that in No-Maj schools, they make you do these introduction things to get to know your classmates better. Since we barely have any time left in this period for me to start a lesson, I mind as well give you a fun assignment to take home. Don't worry, it's easy, and it's going to be due next week. No stress."

Professor Bennett took out his wand and gave it a quick wave in the air. The stack of papers he was carrying flew from his desk and a sheet landed on the table of every student.

"Turn the paper around," the professor explained. "On the top left corner, there should be the word 'dear' and the name of one of your classmates. It's all random, and your homework is to just write a letter of introduction and give it to the person whose name is on the paper. Talk about your hobbies, favorite food, and basically whatever you want. Make sure to include three questions you would like to ask that person at the end of your letter. And that is about it. Great first day of school, everyone!"

With that said, Professor Bennett slumped back into his chair and let out a huge sigh as if he had just accomplished a fearsome task. The rest of the class was left staring at their paper, dumbfounded.

"It seems my paper has your name on it," Micah said, turning around to Seth.

"Woah!" Seth exclaimed. "Is there some cliche thing going on? I got Daniel's name. Sounds like some sappy teenage drama show. Tell me you got Micah's, Daniel."

It took a while for Daniel's brain to fully register Seth's request; his mind was too wrapped around the name on his paper. The name was familiar...way too familiar.

"Hey," Daniel said in a distant voice as he glanced up from the paper. "Since you are the one doing the trash talking this morning, is this considered karma for me or for you?"

Both Seth and Micah's jaws dropped the moment they laid eyes on the name. Then suddenly, as if they did not know any other way to react, they both burst out laughing.

"Merlin's beard!" Seth said. "It's _that_ kind of cliche."

"Very spot on, Seth," Micah agreed. "It's the most predictable plot twist in the book!"

"Seriously, though," Seth said, his face suddenly turning serious. "Good luck on the assignment. You're going to really need it."

He was barely able to keep the straight face for a second before he broke down into laughter once again. By then, some of their classmates were giving them weird glances.

Daniel ignored them. He was too busy looking at the other corner of the room where the soon-to-be-recipient of his letter sat. She looked lonely. Her eyes focused off into a space far beyond anyone's comprehension but her own. How was he supposed to write a letter of introduction to Kathryn Polymer?

* * *

 **A lot of new characters being introduced here. I try to give the teachers as unique of a personality as I could come up with.**

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	9. Chapter 9: The Rec Room

**Chapter 9: The Rec Room**

* * *

"A crapload of homework on the first day and some stupid letter thing," Seth said with a yawn.

After Professor Bennett's awkward class, Daniel had gone back to his room to put down his books. He wanted to get started on the homework right away, but Seth said to meet up outside. Next thing he knew, he was walking down an unfamiliar passageway in the castle next to a boy with nothing but complaints.

"Where are we going?" Daniel finally asked. He reached his hand up to his shoulder and felt Abe nuzzle against his fingers. He had decided to take the little dragon out of his room for some fresh air.

"We're gonna meet up with the others in the Rec Room, of course," Seth said nonchalantly. He kept trying to sneak conspicuous glances at the dragon. "Oh, wait. I forgot. You don't know what the Rec Room is. That's okay. You'll find out soon enough."

Daniel didn't bother questioning the Wampus boy any further. He was too tired, and he was already preparing himself for the long homework night ahead.

Pretty soon, they arrived in front of an iron-arched door, with flowery designations in every corner. There were no handles, just a slit in the middle where it was supposed to open from. Seth took out his wand and tapped on the door gently.

"Fuzzy Pandas," he murmured.

"What?" Daniel asked. "Didn't quite catch that."

"It's the password," Seth explained. "And for the record, I did not make it."

A creaking sound echoed through the hallway. Daniel watched spellbound as the flowering patterns on the wall began to move. The vines extended until it formed two handles. Seth grabbed onto both and pulled.

The Rec Room was not what Daniel had imagined it to be. In his mind, he expected a sort of game room, or at least a comfy library. However, what he found instead was the insides of a clock tower. A dull light bulb hung overhead, holding onto its dear life on a single strand of wire. It bathed the room in a warm, golden glow, illuminating the dull, yet homely feel of the gray walls. Dusty books covered the majority of the room. Some stacked up to mountainous heights while others laid scattered like puzzle pieces on the floor. There were two tables, each with its own share of unorganized papers. Finally, there was the clock face. The blissful afternoon sun that shone through the glassy surface covered what the small lightbulb couldn't. The clock hands and designs were fixed in a timeless momentum of passings. They moved to a staccato beat, but no ticking could be heard.

For the second time that day, Daniel was in awe (even Abe huffed a cloud of smoke in the air). Of course, this wasn't quite as impressive as Professor Bennett's classroom, but it gave him a strange feeling. He had never been to this place before, yet it filled him with a sense of nostalgia as if he was looking at this room through someone else's eyes. He walked around the perimeter of the room, running his hands through everything he could touch. The humming gears on the wall painted his hands with rust, and the scattered books on the floor covered it with another layer of dust. He picked up one of the books with a purple binding. There wasn't a decorative cover on it, so he had to flip through some of the pages to get the gist of the plot. It was a strange story about a man traveling around the world in his hot air balloon. The second book he picked up wove the tale of a girl who created a magical kingdom simply by writing about it. He stopped by one of the tables and flipped through some of the papers on it. Most of them were childish sketches, depicting fantasies of airplanes, magical creatures, and castles in the clouds.

"The one with the Pegasus is my favorite," a familiar voice said from behind. Daniel immediately dropped what he was holding and turned around.

"Go on," Amanda urged, "I don't mind. I remembered the Pegasus one the most because it was my twelfth birthday that day, and I swear I saw one of those flying overhead in the marketplace."

"You drew it?" Daniel asked, holding up the sketch. It was a rather crude drawing, yet there was a certain innocence to it that filled it with beauty.

"I'm not a good artist," Amanda admitted, taking a few steps closer. She had apparently walked into the room after them. "I just have a rather wild imagination. It's probably why I prefer to hide up here all day instead of going to church or spending time with my family."

"That's strange," Daniel said. "I never saw a clock tower in the school before."

"Wait," Seth intervene, "You think we're actually inside a clock tower? Nah, man! It's all an illusion. The Rec Room is one of the highlights of Ilvermorny. There is a special spell that lets you morph this room into any room you want. You can even set up passwords and invite friends. You don't wanna be stuck in your dorms all day. The Rec Room is a way for you to connect with your friends from other houses."

"Yes," Amanda agreed. "We had this room set up in our first year here. It was rock paper scissors and I won, so I get to choose the room's design."

"And you picked this clock tower?" Daniel asked.

"What? You don't like it?"

"No! Quite the opposite. It has such a timeless beauty to it. I was just wondering why?"

"Well, I like to come to this tower a lot before I started attending Ilvermorny. I come from a No-Maj family, you see, and I didn't know I had magic at the time. However, I was an avid dreamer. This was kind of like a tree house for me. No, it's actually more like a kingdom of fantasies and adventures, and it served as a way for me to escape the world outside."

Amanda said all that with a smile, yet beneath the grin, Daniel could sense a layer of sadness. Something about the place seemed to bring about a mixture of happiness and pain.

"May I?" Amanda asked, gesturing to the little dragon on Daniel's shoulder. "I have so many drawings of dragons as well."

Daniel nodded and allowed the girl to take Abe away. As she gently patted the dragon's spiky head, he saw that same sadness flicker in her eyes. Daniel could barely picture it in his mind: A lonely little girl, sitting up in a tall and isolated clock tower, daydreaming of a fantastic world she did not know she belonged to.

"By the way," Seth interjected, changing the subject. "The password for this room is 'Fuzzy Pandas'. Just tap the door from the outside with your wand and you should end up here. There are multiple dimensions in the Rec Room so multiple students can exist in multiple rooms at once. It's kind of like the cable car thing, except cranky old Leblanc didn't invent this. It existed a long time ago."

"I think that pretty much explains the Rec Room," Amanda said. Abe fluttered off her hands and landed back on Daniel's shoulders. She crossed her arms and looked around the room. "Man, this is dustier than we had left it last year. Oh, and where is Micah? He's supposed to be here with the supplies."

"He went to secure them after seventh period," Seth said. "It might take him a bit longer because of the new security, but it shouldn't take that long."

As if on cue, there was a loud cranking sound as one part of the wall seemed to dissolve into a watery surface. A second later, Micah emerged from the other side carrying three cardboard boxes stacked on top of each other with his wand.

Suddenly, he tripped over a book and the entire stack of boxes came tumbling down. Moments later, he was completely covered in...

"Chocolate Frogs?" Daniel exclaimed. "What on earth? How did you get so many."

There was at least a hundred in each box, and the combination of the three boxes was enough to bury a man alive.

"It's a tradition," Amanda explained. picking up one of the frogs and tearing the packaging apart. "Every three weeks, the kitchen staff would load up on Chocolate Frogs, and every time, Micah would use his special connections to snag us some boxes. There's so many, they won't even notice its gone."

"In case you don't know," Seth added, "Micah is Professor Leblanc's favorite. He knows all the secret passageways in this school."

"They added some extra security," Micah said. "Took a bit longer, but it's easy as pie."

Daniel shook his head in astonishment. It was hard to believe that such a nerdy person like Micah could be so devious. Then again, it probably explained his friendship with Amanda and Seth.

"But what are you going to do with all these chocolates?" Daniel asked, barely able to keep his volume down.

"You don't know?" Seth exclaimed in astonishment. "It's all about the cards! Each Chocolate Frog contains a card of a famous Witch and Wizard."

"We started our collection halfway through our first year," Amanda said. She stood up and grabbed a rather large and stuffed binder from the table. She quickly flipped through some of the pages with Daniel. "We got every single card last year...except…."

"Big Al!" Seth blurted out, "We need Big Al! Albert Dewey, youngest head Auror, the best wizard in the world, surpassing the great Dumbledore and even Merlin himself. And legend has it, there are only a limited amount of Albert Dewey cards printed, so finding one would be like finding a needle in a haystack."

"But we won't give up, right?"

"No way! We have Daniel this year, and I have a good feeling about this lucky charm."

"Wait a minute," Daniel said. "I'm not going to eat all that. It's crazy!"

"Nobody is asking you to eat anything," Micah said. "You are just going to tear the packaging and find the card. Throw the chocolate back in the boxes and we'll dispose of them."

"Remember," Amanda added, "We only need Albert Dewey. Anything else, we're throwing away."

"Seems like an awful waste of good chocolate," Daniel murmured, but the others were already busy breaking apart chocolates and discarding useless cards. Without a better option, Daniel went ahead and joined them.

Albert Dewey had been a popular figure in the media lately. Actually, he had been on the front page for years now. Not only did he graduate at the top of his class in Ilvermorny, many magazine writers claimed that he was one of the greatest wizards of all time. He was only in his late twenties, but his magical powers outmatched even eldest of warlocks. He had become a phenomenon never before seen in the wizarding world, not even the infamous Tom Riddle could match his craft.

Daniel wondered what it would be like to have that kind of fame and power. It would be way too much for an introvert such as himself to handle. In addition to his high positions in MACUSA, Dewey was also constantly appearing on talk shows and interviews.

Based on the pictures Daniel had seen, the man really deserved his nickname: Big Al.

Not only did he tower well over six feet, his broad shoulders and imposing figure made him quite the sight to behold. There was a time when the newspaper would constantly pump out gag comics about him trying to fit into a common office.

"Hey," Seth said, "I got Betty Parris."

"I got that card last year," Amanda said, flipping through the binder just to make sure. "You weren't there because you broke your foot in a Quidditch game."

Daniel looked down at his collection. So far, he found Abigail Williams, Martha Corey, John Proctor, and Sarah Good. They were probably all useless to them so he didn't bother asking.

"A lot of Salem witches in this batch," Micah commented.

"We already got all the Salem people," Amanda said. "Typical Americans, always printing more cards about their country's witches and wizards. Don't they know that pulling Ann Putnam ten times in a row is a direct middle finger to collectors."

"I don't know what's to tout about," Micah said. "The Salem trials were basically an all-out war amongst magic users. It's one of the darkest times in history."

"My father is a businessman," Daniel said. "This is exactly what he would call 'milking a profit.'."

For the next few hours, the foursome dedicated their time to cracking as many Chocolate Frogs as they could. Abe got bored after a while (Daniel couldn't blame him) and reverted back to his stone state inside Daniel's pocket. They went through an entire box before Amanda called it quits. It was nearly five in the evening, and they needed to finish their homework before dinner. It was a rather strange sight: a mountain of wrappings, useless cards, and chocolate laid before them.

"This is gonna be one hell of a cleanup," Seth said with a sigh.

"Don't worry," Daniel said. He took out Abe and tapped him gently to wake him up. "Hey, can you do that trick I taught you last summer?"

At first, the dragon looked confused...and slightly aggravated to be awakened from his nap. Nevertheless, he flapped his wings and ascended upwards until he reached the top of the junk pile. Then, much to Amanda, Seth, and Micah's amazement, Abe opened his mouth and a steady jet of fires began scorching the pile. In a matter of seconds, the mountainous pile of leftovers became nothing but a small pile of ash. Despite the different materials in the pile, there wasn't any odor nor liquid, just a simple heap of black ashes.

"How was it able to do that?" Micah asked, flabbergasted. "There was like plastic there and everything. How did it all become just ashes."

"Pretty cool, right?" Daniel said with a proud smile. It had taken over half a year of patience and dedication, but his work finally paid off. "I taught this trick to Abe last summer. I infused magic into his flames so whatever he burns turns into ashes. No matter what he burns, it's the same result."

"Infusing magic with dragon fire," Micah said, deep in thought. "That's an interesting concept."

 _Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong! Dong!_

At that moment, a series of loud banging sounds echoed through the room. It was as if a huge gong was being repeatedly struck. It wasn't anything new. Amanda had explained to Daniel earlier that the clock tower had an hourly alarm.

"Galloping Gargoyles!" Amanda exclaimed. "It's five and I haven't even started on homework yet! Okay, guys, gotta cut the party short."

"At least we got a lot more cards sorted out with Daniel here," Seth said. "I'm telling you. My boy Astor here is our lucky charm. We'll find Big Al's card this year. I just know it."

"It's the same optimism every year," Micah said. He looked a bit more annoyed than usual for some reason. "I don't see what Daniel has to do with it."

The four began packing up their stuff. The untouched chocolates were put away in one corner of the room while the ashes were swept into a nearby trash can. Daniel wasn't particularly keen on starting homework now that he had spent his entire afternoon hanging out with friends. Of course, he was especially reluctant about the letter.

"I heard about the letter," Amanda said as if she was reading his mind. She stopped halfway out of the door. "All I gotta say is good luck. Like, legit. Good luck."

* * *

 **The Rec Room is heavily inspired by the Room of Requirements in the Harry Potter books. I often feel like that room wasn't really brought to light for all its possibilities. In the books, the room just appears as a sinister shadow where people hide things. So, I thought it would be cool to have my own version of it here, but for a more lighter purpose.**

 **Ty for reading. I wanted to start this story out slow and build up the universe before some shit starts going down.**


	10. Chapter 10: Something About a Curse

CHAPTER TEN: Something About a Curse

"The Raven Mocker Trial is a serious subject," Professor Nightwind said as she paced around the classroom, looking at each student with the same grandmotherly smile. Each step she took was a graceful glide, her silver outfit floating behind her like moonbeams glowing across the room. "I expect your undivided attention and at least one full page of notes at the end of the period."

"Full page of notes?" Seth exclaimed. His head sunk beneath his arms like a stone sinking into the ocean. "I don't remember this class being so hard."

"It's the fifth year," Amanda said with a sigh. "We gotta step up our game if we want to pass the exams"

 _Shhh!_

Tiffany turned around and gave them a nasty look. Amanda and Seth threw their hands up as if they had been caught in the middle of a crime. As soon as the girl turned around, they started giggling and mocking her expression. Tiffany apparently heard them and turned around once more, but this time, she was pointing a strict and accusing finger at Daniel.

"Just because you did some fancy spell doesn't mean you're the big shot of the house," she said in a voice loud enough for the entire class to hear.

As soon as her back was turned once again, Daniel gave his friends a dumbfounded look. His mouth slowly formed the letters "w, t, and f".

"As mentioned yesterday," the professor said, completely oblivious to the small interaction. "The Raven Mocker Trial is a highly illegal ritual that transfers the magical ability of one wizard to another. In order to complete the trial, you need to concoct two identical potions. One will need to be drunk willingly by the recipient of the powers and forced down the throat of the victim. Notice the key word here: 'forced'. It's what makes the ritual so illegal. The victim needs to be forced to drink the potion in order for the spell to work. It might seem like a simple way for a dark wizard to gain power, so what has stopped someone in be past, say Grindelwald, from becoming an absolutely unstoppable force?"

Professor Nightwind gestured to the class as if expecting an answer, but no one, not even Micah nor Tiffany raised their hand. Finally, when it seemed as if the Headmistress's question would be lost in the sea of confused eyes, a hand slowly lifted from the back of the class.

"The two major ingredients for the potion are Lichweeds and Soulstealers," Daniel answered, his voice shaking and hesitant. "Lichweeds sprout only from the graves of wizards who had dedicated their life to black magic. Soulstealers are a type of silk woven from the light of the full moon, a technique only a few even knows about. But most importantly, only a cursed child can have their powers taken away."

"What a beautiful explanation," Professor Nightwind whispered in a mystical voice. "A cursed child can indeed be said to be cursed for life. If you want a famous example, look at Harry Potter. His childhood curse still makes him a viable victim."

"Benefits of homeschooling, I see," Amanda whispered with a smirk.

"Lucky bastard probably already know everything," Seth added. He had already successfully charmed some notebook papers into a catapult again.

"I hope you are paying attention, class," Professor Nightwind said with an oddly mischievous smile. "There will be a test on this next week"

Immediately, the whole class scooted an entire inch forward on their chairs. Seth's paper catapult crumbled lifelessly in his hands.

After that announcement, the entire class became an ardent force to be reckoned with. The scratching of pencil paper echoed every word that left Professor Nightwind's mouth. The stress level in the room was so high that the resounding ring of the bell came almost like an angel descending into a battlefield.

"Alright, class," Professor Nightwind said, clapping her hands together. "We will continue this lesson in class tomorrow."

A listless round of groans and complaints ensued; It meant another strenuous day of paranoia and note-taking.

The rest of the day passed by without any long speeches nor pop quizzes. If anything, it was more "on track" compared to the first. They actually started their Salem unit in History class (although they went a bit off track when someone _intentionally_ asked about how the court system back then related to a recent controversial case). Medical Theology progressed way better compared to the first awkward day. Professor Bennett still looked like a deer staring into headlights whenever he was teaching, but Daniel actually enjoyed the bandage wrapping demonstration he did with them in class.

Daniel hated homework. The nervousness of trying to make a good first impression on the teachers kept him on his toes, but he expected the adrenaline to fade away once his procrastinating nature kicked in. He actually learned all the lessons at home already so nothing was new to him so far other than the bandage knot that Professor Bennett showed.

Another point worth noting was his roommate. They never had the chance to talk to each other. Daniel was always the first one up in the morning, and his roommate always stayed out past curfew time. Daniel couldn't understand how people can stay up with all the lights out. Amanda said that most seventh-year students stayed up all night partying in the Rec Room and never bothered with their courses. Their major tests and applications were already completed, so they basically wanted to live their senioritis to the fullest. Still, Daniel would love to actually talk to his roommate.

Before long, it was Friday. Almost every student was on the edge of their seats, anticipating a blissful, free weekend. However, the only feeling that sat within Daniel was regret. He had reluctantly made a promise to a certain someone yesterday, and he didn't really feel like keeping it.

"...and then you turn your wand clockwise like this," Professor Bennett murmured, completely transfixed in the bowl of concoction in front of him. "In about five minutes, the broth should harden. People generally apply this on their heads in Asia to cure Goblin Fever."

"Professor!" Tiffany said, her hand in the air. "The textbook never said to add ginseng. And we're supposed to stir the concoction twice counterclockwise."

"Oh," the man replied, flipping through the textbook.

"You don't even have the book open to the right page," another student interjected.

"Okay!" Professor Bennett exclaimed. He stood back and crossed his arms (the book still wasn't on the right page). "Whoever wrote this textbook has clearly never been to China. Ginseng is essential for minimizing the side effects of the cure."

Daniel stared at the bubbling green solution in front of him. He couldn't understand why Tiffany and her friends continued to argue with Professor Bennett. The man never followed the book. He always claimed that his method was better. It was like there was some secret vendetta going on between him and the author.

"Class is going to end any moment," Professor Bennett said. "Flip your bowl over and the solution should have solidified by now."

Daniel flipped his bowl over, and when he lifted it up, a green, rock-like substance in the shape of the bowl sat neatly on his desk. It was hard to believe that wizards in Asian countries actually put this on their heads to cure diseases.

"Don't look now," Seth said, "I'll clean it up later."

Despite his friend's warning, Daniel looked over and saw a puddle of green goo dripping from Seth's table.

"I think something went wrong with the stirring," the Wampus boy murmured.

"Eww!"

"It's coming towards me!"

All around the room, there was a mixture of shrieks and complaints. Some students even jumped on their chairs as green goo began spreading from students' desks onto the floor. It was like a scene from some slimy horror movie.

"I think this is the part where they grow arms and attack," Micah said, barely able to contain his laughter.

Besides Daniel, Micah and Tiffany were the only ones who were able to keep their solution in the right chemical state (although Tiffany's looked more jelly-like).

In the midst of the chaos, Professor Bennett nonchalantly produced a glass vial from his shirt pocket and poured some blue-colored potion on the rapidly spreading goo. As soon as the two solutions touched, an icy wave rushed through the classroom. In a matter of seconds, the goo was completely encased in a layer of ice.

"D-d-don't you t-t-think it's a-a-a-a b-bit o-of an overk-kill," Seth stuttered through his chattering teeth. "A-a-als-so w-who turned on t-the AC."

Indeed, the entire room's temperature suddenly plummeted below freezing point. Students were shuddering and hugging themselves to stay alive. Daniel had noticed that Professor Bennett's room was always colder than the others, but this was just ridiculous.

"Don't worry about the goo, guys," Professor Bennett said, completely unfazed despite his short-sleeved shirt. "It's all taken care of. I prepared a freezing potion just in case. To be honest, I didn't expect _this_ many…um...mistakes, but it's okay. You guys can improve."

Tiffany looked as if she wanted to complain again but was too cold to even mutter the first word.

"Hey!" Professor Bennett exclaimed suddenly, strolling happily to the back of the room. "Class, look at Daniel and Kathryn's solutions. They're perfect! I dare say you can sell these in the Eastern Wizard Medicine Shop."

Daniel turned around and barely caught a glimpse of Kathryn's Goblin Fever Stone through the sea of heads. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but her solution was so perfectly solid and smooth that it seemed to sparkle in the freezing atmosphere. He wanted to get a closer look, but at that moment, the bell rang and all students stampeded out of the classroom to escape the cold.

"I don't care what Amanda says," Seth said once they were out of the icebox. "That dude is borderline crazy. It's like winter every day in that room and he's wearing short sleeves. That freezing solution literally turned it into Antarctica and he's still unfazed."

"Maybe he is secretly a snowman in disguise," Daniel said, trying to smile, but his lips were so frozen that every word sent a sharp needle through his face.

"It's sad that I half believe you," Seth said. "Congrats on your rock or whatever thing though. You know what, if you end up being his favorite, please beg him to build a fireplace in that room or something. I don't think I can survive another day in there."

"Thanks? But I think Micah's Goblin Fever Stone turned out alright."

"No," Micah said shaking his head. "It ended up all powdery. I used an illusion charm to make it look like it was solid."

"A nerd gotta keep up his appearance," Seth said with a laugh. He turned to the flight of stairs in the right. "I'm gonna get changed. See you all in the Quidditch Field! And Daniel, I expect to see you there!"

"S-sure," Daniel murmured. He could feel his stomach sinking lower and lower. He had been dreading this day ever since he lost the chocolate eating contest they had. It was some stupid bet, and he really should learn to say no more often.

"Don't you dare forget about the bet!" Seth exclaimed. "You know, Daniel, if you can't eat thirty chocolate frogs in five minutes, you could have just called off the bet."

"I don't think our friend here is used to saying no often," Micah observed, "especially if some idiot practically got on his hands and knees to beg."

Daniel tried to give his friends a reassuring look, but there was just no way to hide sinking pit of anxiety threatening to consume his body.

After all, he was about to play Quidditch for the first time.

* * *

 **This was originally supposed to be some filler chapter that was never meant to be published lol. I wrote this on a road trip in the car. It doesn't do much except build the characters and the world up a bit.**

 **Anyways, I've decided to publish it because I don't have a lot of time to work on this for the time being. I'll get back with another chapter after exams are over :D**


	11. Chp 11: A Seeker With a Dragon's Breath

CHAPTER ELEVEN: A Seeker With a Dragon's Breath

The cool afternoon air of the Ilvermorny Quidditch fields blew gently on the fresh, earthy grass. Each blade of green swayed to the gentle breeze like a crowd of adoring stadium fans. It was a perfect day for Quidditch tryouts.

Standing in front of the red and gold flags of the Wampus team tent was none other than General Hudson Littlestaff, former Auror and soldier in the United States Wizarding Army. After his retirement, he began working as the Quidditch Director of Ilvermorny and the Head of the House for Wampus. He was also the one that kept pushing the tryout dates around until it eventually moved from next Thursday to Friday this week. When confronted by his house's captain about the constant schedule changes, he only answered: "It is a soldier's job to keep up with the changing times. In war, there are no schedules, only your instincts."

In the stadium benches, about one-fifth of the school came out and watched. Amanda and Seth were among the crowd of die-hard Quidditch fans waiting to see who would make this year's teams.

"There are a lot fewer people this year," Amanda observed. "Last year, half the school showed up to just see tryouts."

"Couch Littlestaff has some appointment with his body trainer next Thursday, so we keep pushing the dates around," Seth explained.

"Does he have like these workout things every day?" Amanda said. "Reckon _Little_ staff is trying to compensate for something?"

As much as all the students in Ilvermorny joked about his name, nobody would dare to even smile in front of the man.

"Where on earth is Micah," Seth asked suddenly. "I thought we're all supposed to be here supporting Daniel. For goodness sakes, I had to eat thirty chocolate frogs just to get him to come. You know how many push-ups I needed to do to get rid of all that?"

"He's probably in his room studying for the Raven Mocker Trial exams. We can't run and get him. The Pukwudgie team tryouts will start right after my house."

While the two friends contemplated about their missing member, down in the green and gold Pukwudgie tent, Daniel was beginning to reconsider his life decisions.

As the young boy paced around the tent wearing Seth's old riding robe ("fits you like a champ," the Wampus boy had said as the robe hung in sagging bags around the other boy's body), he began whispering to himself to calm his nerves.

 _It's okay. It's just one flight._

 _I'm not gonna make it in or anything._

 _It's just gonna be a one-time thing._

 _Don't get so worked up over it._

 _You're gonna be fine._

 _You're totally not gonna die._

"Oh yes you will," a voice caught Daniel off guard as he spun to find its source.

"What are you doing here?" Daniel asked Tiffany Laudanum as she entered the tent in her own riding robes.

"Isn't it obvious," the Pukwudgie girl said with her nose held high. "I'm trying out to be the Pukwudgie team Seeker."

"But—"

"But that is the position you are trying out for as well," Tiffany cut in. "I know. I'm not about to let some newcomer best _me_ again."

"I'm not even going to make it into the—"

"They Seeker tryouts are simple," Tiffany continued, completely ignoring what the boy was trying to say. "Whoever catches the Golden Snitch in the least amount of time gets on the team. I've been training the entire summer for this, ever since I heard wizarding universities look highly upon sports credentials."

Her words made Daniel again reconsider his reason for even being in the tent in the first place. Was it really because he lost some stupid bet...or was there something more?

At that moment, Lucas Windwhistle, the captain of the Pukwudgie quidditch team, popped in between the opening flaps of the tent. He was a well-chiseled seventh-year, probably the most buffed member of the house, with dark, bushy eyebrows that furrows quite often.

"So you two are the newbies," he said without really looking at them. "Alight, one of you is gonna replace Kellen as our Seeker. Who's up first?"

"I am!"

Tiffany jumped to the front of the tent before Daniel could fully digest Lucas's words. He had considered getting it over with as fast as possible, yet he relished in relief when Tiffany stood up.

Daniel got up and out of the tent just in time to see Tiffany take off on her Nimbus 3000, the same broom Seeker Thomas Haybraid used in the last World Cup (Daniel's broom was the new Jaded Dragon model he had bought for himself on his last birthday. He had brought it to school even though he doubt that he would find use for it). The girl soared to the sky like a sparrow. A few moments later, he caught glimpse of a fluttering ball of golden yellow as it zipped through the stadium. Taking a fresh breath of confidence, Tiffany swooped down to chased after the ball.

Although it looked rather feeble with its hummingbird wings, the Golden Snitch was a challenge to catch. Occasionally, Tiffany had to stop midair to relocate the golden shimmer before diving into another blur of flapping quidditch clothes.

At the stadium side, a group of girls cheered their friend on as her broomstick swept across the cascade of green. As Tiffany loomed ever so much closer to her prize, the crowd began gathering momentum. Pretty soon, everyone was at the edge of the seats, their hearts pulsating with each beat of anticipation.

Tiffany reached her hand out. Her face scrunched up into a snarl. Her feet kicked at the broom to go faster. Her breath sliced through the wind. Her audience cheered with a psycho high. She reached for it...and her fingers closed around the Golden Snitch!

The excitement of the stadium shot to the sky like a rocket ship. The effects that sports can have on people was a phenomenon few could understand. Even the most disinterested people leaped to their feet and clapped.

"Two minutes and thirty-one seconds!" Lucas said with his beefy arms crossed. "Not bad for a newbie."

Daniel looked down at the small green blades around his feet and realized that he was up next. He had almost forgotten about his purpose here as he watched Tiffany's performance with mesmerized eyes.

"Good luck beating my time," Tiffany said as she landed right beside Daniel. "It's okay if you can't. Not all birds can fly, you know."

Daniel tightened his grip on his Jaded Dragon. He didn't really care for the "trash talks", for it was his own fears that caught him by the throat. His palms were sweaty and his knees were heavy. The roar of the crowd only added on to the pressure.

The Pukwudgie boy strapped himself onto the broomstick. Seconds later, his feet no longer touched the ground. He was ascending. The green field beneath him swayed in protest. It's rustling voices scolded him from leaving its tight embrace.

But Daniel was no longer afraid.

For the first time in his life, he felt a strange sense of freedom. Was this the euphoria that Abe felt when he flew? For years he had watched the tiny dragon's wings with a grain of jealousy. The ribbons of the afternoon breeze wrapped him up, filling him with the ecstasy of a drug he could not get enough of.

Finally, he was up there. All those years of watching Quidditch games on the screen, and now, he was finally doing it. There was nobody stepping on his cape. His eyes narrowed on the gold orb gliding across the field. He angeled his broom handle, and with a war-like cry, he was off.

Although he had never actually flown before, Daniel had watched enough recordings of Quidditch games to know the basics. Watching Thomas Haybraid's maneuvers was all he needed. His lips curled into a faint smile as he reached for the Snitch...only to have it slip out of his fingertips.

"Woo!" Daniel cried as he spun his broom right around to chase his prize.

At that moment, the prospect of winning seemed like a distant dream. All he cared about was the wind rushing past his face and the mystical clouds above his head. He laughed at the sense of freedom he felt, at the fun he was having, and at the thought that he had been missing out on so much.

Daniel continued to give chase to the Golden Snitch as it soared higher and higher to the direction of the setting sun. He was a man given wings, and he was about to fly right into the heavens.

Then suddenly, it all stopped.

He was a man given wings, and he flew too close to the sun.

So, he dropped.

All around him were surprised screams and cries, but all Daniel could hear at that moment was the thumping of his heart. His stupid, frail heart...the obstacle that stood between him and what he could not reach. Through the constellation of stars and the continents of clouds, he fell like an angel cast from the heavens.

In his hands, Daniel felt a small, hard object. It was the Golden Snitch, the last symbol of the wings he had owned for just a few minutes.

It was worth it, wasn't it?

It was the reason why he had done it in the first place, not because a friend begged him. No, he wanted to do it, even at the cost of all this pain.

At that last moment, before he sank into the deep seas of oblivion, he wondered what his sister would say if she knew about this. She would laugh, of course, jeer at her fool of a brother.

Yet, he wasn't just a fool. He was a fool who flew so high that he felt the heavens in his fingertips.

* * *

 **I actually spend a surprising amount of time thinking this chapter through and how I should convey Daniel's feelings. I made a bunch of changes over time, but I try to stay consistent and provide good enough hints and explanations.**

 **TY for reading 3**


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